[alcazar]

You mention your intense, close connections are with your immediate family. Do you think your method would still work for you if you didn't like your family and were single? Unfortunately, that happens to many lonely males.

Your comment was an interesting read, though. I never before got into the mind of someone who prefers the "feral pack" over individual, more intense connections, and your description worked well with that.

Best of luck to you and also to your daughters and wife.

[uberman]

I can't really say other than I can say that I am not close with my sister and never have been. I am similarly not close with my own parents who now live in a different country though we are close with my wife's parents. So when I say "immediate family", what I mean personally is my wife and daughters. What would it have been like to have the closeness with my own parents that I have with my daughters? I'm not sure other than reflecting back on those days that it would have seemed weird to me. Perhaps that is a missed opportunity.

Even with my family though I have to actively work to listen first for empathy and problem solve only when asked :-)